As Vice Presidential Rumors Fly, New Poll Results on Christie, the Governor

April 18, 2012 at 4:00 am

Gov. Chris Christie has played down his potential as a vice presidential candidate. His latest poll numbers in New Jersey hit the positive 50 percent mark, but represent a slight drop. Flickr/forwardstl

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, once a potential presidential candidate himself, is getting national attention again amidst speculations about whom Mitt Romney will choose as a running mate. Due for a gubernatorial re-election campaign in 2013, Christie has said he doesn’t expect to be picked as a vice presidential candidate. A new Monmouth University/NJ Press Media Poll shows Christie’s overall numbers have dropped five points since February among voters in his own state, where his approve rating is now 50 percent. On certain issues, including property taxes and schools, his ratings have risen and he has picked up approval among public worker households.

On the most recent episode of NJ Today, anchor Mike Schneider spoke with The Monmouth Polling Institute’s Patrick Murray about what the numbers suggest.

“Gov. Christie’s overall rating remains positive, so I’m not ready to say his ratings are slipping,” said Murray. “But this poll indicates that the political sands are shifting. He has skillfully navigated those shifts in the past. We’ll be following these numbers to see if he can continue the positive track in public opinion he has maintained for the past year.”

Christie polled fairly positively on education issues. Asked to give the governor a letter grade, 13 percent of those polled gave the governor an A on his education policies, 24 percent gave him a B, while 14 percent gave him a D and 16 percent gave him an F. Christie also did well on cutting costs [A (18%), B (29%), D (11%), F (10%)], and his proposal to cut income taxes — 61 percent approves, while 32 percent disapproves.

His plan to merge Rutgers University’s campus into Rowen University was less popular. Only 23 percent approved and 33 percent disapproved. The rest were not aware of the issue.

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Christie has come under fire recently because a report by the State’s General Accounting Office said the governor might have overstated the state’s share of costs for the Hudson River ARC tunnel – a project the governor shot down. Half of those polled agreed that Christie overstated the costs, while only 26 percent disagreed.

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